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Phil Savage
Mar 15, 2013

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The Castle Doctrine
may be an MMO about breaking and entering, but creator Jason Rohrer still requires some honour among thieves. When one player modded the game to allow him to walk through walls, live after death and create impenetrable defences, he probably didn't count on other players' in-game security cameras catching him out.

"Though this is impossible to PREVENT (even with a closed-source game), it is easy to catch, because everything is recorded," Rohrer writes in an email address to players. "The great thing about security tapes is that they catch people in the act."

"In fact, the security tapes were originally in the game just for me to catch cheaters, but I thought that they were so interesting to watch that I made them part of the game."

It's a stark warning to potential cheaters. Rohrer's operating a no-strike policy for those who break into the game's code. "That is official policy: if you cheat, you will be banned permanently and lose your account, no refunds."

"And, even if you don't mod your client and find some kind of bug that lets you cheat (that could be the case here, because I don't have proof that he modded), it's your responsibility to report the bug to me and NOT exploit it. Whatever way you cheat, even if you simply exploit a bug, you will be banned."

It's certainly an inventive way to deal with those ruining the spirit of the game. Rohrer finishes by asking players to act as The Castle Doctrine's own Neighbourhood Watch: "If you see a security tape with something suspicious on it, please send me an email report with that character's name. I can quickly pull up those tapes in the admin view and act on them."

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